^^ 안녕하세요. ONE STEP AT A TIME Sucheng Chan was an active child who loved to run outside and play with the other children in the village in China whrer she was born. But in 1943, when she was four years old, she contracted polio, a childhood disease that can make people very sick and often causes paralysis. The muscles in her legs slowly wasted away, and she could no longer run or even walk. The doctors were pessimistic about her chances of living more than a year or two. They did not know what a determined person Sucheng Chan was. After lying helplessly in bed for three years, Sucheng Chan suprised her mother one day by asking her to set up some chairs in two paralled lines, their backs facing. She then forced herself out of bed and made her way between the chairs, using their backs as support. She did this time after time, her body aching from many falls. China was at war with Japan during these years, and Sucheng Chan's father was serving in the army, unable to see his family. He cherished his duaghter, and it saddened him that he could not give her the comfort and support she needed. When the war ended and he returned home, he was astounded to see Sucheng Chan walk up to him and welcome him. Her movements was jerky and not at all graceful, but to her father there had never been such a beautiful sight. Sucheng Chan had always been a bright child who was eager to go to school. But in those days in China education was not free, and her parents had only a moedst income. Sucheng Chan was eight years old before they had saved enough money for her to attend the American shool in Shanghai. There she learned to speak English and began a lifelong study of Asian history. In 1948, at the end of Sucheng Chan's first year in school, China's government became communist. The new government imposed strict rules forbidding contact with foreigners. One result of the measures was that the American school was closed. Sucheng Chan and her parents grew increasingly unhappy. They decided to leave China and settle in Malaysia. Sucheng Chan's teenage years, which she spent in a Malaysian high school, were the happiest of her life. She did very well in school and took piano lessons, some times giveing recitals for visitors. Once, while walking across the stage, her legs gave  way and she fell. She heard a voice say, "Ayah! A baikah(cripple) should not expose herself like that." Sucheng Chan's response was to struggle to her feet, walk to the piano, sit down, and play so beautifully that the audience was moved to tears. After graduating from high school, Sucheng Chan went on to win scholarships to the University of Hawaii. She later became a professor of history and director of Asian American studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, leading a full and active life. Doctors told her that she might need a wheelchair by the time she was forty because polio can come back, causing more damage to muscles. They were right. But, she said, "I use it only when I am not in a hurry."